Ya know, I've never really understood Animal Crossing. The slow pace, the silly aesthetic, the tedium, it's always been pretty boring to me. I've played a couple of the games in the past but put them down only a few days after picking them up. It's just so annoying to have to wait literal, real-world days to advance in a game and I don't really find it that engaging. And even with this year's New Horizons I'm nowhere near as invested as others have been. I won't be making an entire cityscape or terraforming each and every detail of my island. I won't be fishing for hours on end just to try and fill up the game's aquarium. And I certainly won't be playing it much, if at all in the future. My island is surely a pile of weeds and full of lonely villagers at this point, but what I can't deny is that in a year full of so much turmoil and as I move further into an adult life so full of constant chores and bills and other such things requiring my attention, there was a solid few weeks this year where Animal Crossing was a safe place to hide away and just, relax. Check in on the characters, pluck some weeds, and nab some fruit before shutting the game off and getting back to whatever life has in store for me next. So maybe I still don't fully "get" Animal Crossing and you know, if it weren't for the pandemic I may not have enjoyed it as much as I did or maybe wouldn't have played it at all. The agonizingly slow pacing, ridiculously tedious online multiplayer, frustration with breaking tools, and strict times for in-game events are all still there, but I do think that I now at least understand why it appeals to so many people. And it gave me a bit of comfort in an otherwise tremulous time, something I think we can all appreciate every now and again.